Aik Cheong Coffee: A Taste Test

What is this?

Well, it's a blog post detailing a popular coffee brand that's carved a niche for itself amongst the many coffee enthusiasts and leisurely coffee drinkers in Colombo alike. Man that was a long sentence, but I'm pumped full of coffee, so you'll see a lot of those strewn about, scusi.

Why?

See above.

What...?

So in this blog post, we're going to be focusing on all the different flavours Aik Cheong has graced us with. Sure, you can opt for a quick pitstop at your favourite coffee spot to obtain any one of these flavours, should you crave for them. But, let's say you're running late and have exactly five minutes to get your [flavoured] coffee fix. What do you do?

Opt for the instant mixes, of course.

This isn't a paid post. Aik Cheong was kind enough to send us a whole load of these instant mix sachets, asking us to try them out and give them our 100% honest opinion. They also asked us to be brutal and straightforward about it. So no unnecessary fluffing, no fuss. Pretty cool, eh?

So, let's get to it.

The Coffees

Chandana and I sat down and took part in a rather mundane coffee-taste-test video which you can watch if you click on this highlighted text.

Here's a useful tip: DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER. While the contents of these packets look deceptively excessive, you actually only need a tiny bit of water. We made the mistake of filling our coffee mugs and jars about 3/4ths full of water, and they came out super watery. Big mistake.

Mellow n' Mild

I'll start with the milder flavours. While these aren't exactly pictured in perfect order, I'm sure most of us handled our Montessori matching lessons pretty well, so I hope there is no great difficulty in connecting the description to the products pictured above......

The Latte:

This one is packaged in a baby pink sachet. It's every bit as promising and boring as lattes generally go. Lots of milk, extremely mild flavour and little to no interesting traits. I dare say it sticks to the Rules of the Latte where colouring and flavour profile are concerned.

The Cappuccino:

Slightly disappointing. Instant coffees were once a big part of my angsty teenage years and nearly all of the brands I tried (both good and questionable), somehow managed to yield a frothy top layer. I don't know how this voodoo works, but Aik Cheong doesn't seem to employ a shaman in their chemical processes. Or lack thereof.

That being said, the cappuccino surprisingly tasted like a cappuccino. It's got a soft, espresso flavour leak, but mostly subtle...

The Mocha:

The Mocha was a questionable sachet. For one, we were a bit baffled as to whether we were tasting actual mocha, or whether our sensory process was fooling us on account of how excited we were to try it.

Still, all of us couldn't possibly have fallen victim to a placebo effect, so we just chalked it up to the taste being mild, but somewhat present. The chocolate to coffee ratio was well balanced though.

Strong n' Wild

These weren't exactly wild, mind you- they sat quite tamely within their ceramic and glass confines. I just needed to find a heading that was eye-catching but I couldn't, so I left this here. Oh well.

Below are the more adventurous flavours. They showed a lot of promise, and a lot of pomp, too. Read on, my lil beans...

The Macchiato:

The Macchiato is, in my humble opinion, the worst type of coffee drink in existence. I do not know why such a monstrosity was birthed. Caramel in itself is an abomination (please put away your pitchforks), but imagining mixing it with coffee, holy shi*...
Focus, Sarah, focus!

There are actual bits of caramel that dissolve upon preparation. Strangely enough, it produced a flavourful concoction that my coworkers liked. I chose to refrain for the sake of my sanity.

The Matcha:

The Matcha coffee sachet is the strongest out of the lot. So much so, that they warn you not to indulge if you have a coffee senssisisititivity.
The taste was definitely on point.

The colour is a pretty mint green, and you'll be whacked in the nose with a strong hit of matcha. The coffee taste comes through in tandem with the original matcha flavour as well. 4/5.

The Hot Chocolate:

Now, for the best of the best. While this isn't exactly a coffee drink, Aik Cheong's Hot Chocolate was the gold medalist. First place. Very good. Sha. We loved it.

It's made with real Belgian chocolate which shows through very clearly in its rich, almost heady piquancy. The drink is a deep shade of brown, almost lacquer-like in its viscosity. It was terrific. Probably the best Instant Hot Choco mix you'll invest in.

The Aftermath

This tasting was conducted in the wee hours of the morning. It gave me horrific gastritis for the rest of the week, since I drank all these coffees on a very empty stomach. Don't do that.

Before.After.

Honourable Mention:
Aik Cheong also has a pure black coffee sachet called Kopi-O. Unfortunately I have no photographs of this sachet, but if you look at what Chandana is holding in the photos above, you'll find a deep green packet.

The sachet containts a coffee-bag. Much like a tea-bag, but with, you know, coffee. It requires about 3 minutes of brewing time and yields some really dark coffee. The flavour is rather flat, but alright nevertheless.

Acquiring the Product

You can totally purchase a pack of these drinks. They're available in over 20 Cargills Food City outlets across the country and at selected Keells, Laugfs, Arpico, SPAR, and Softlogic’s (new) supermarket. But you can call them up at 0773951469, 474, or 475. Each pack contains 12 sachets, and goes for Rs. 1,500. They'll deliver it to you free of charge!

Conclusion

So there you have it. A comprehensive (???) post detailing all the flavours Aik Cheong blessed us with, and our (my) opinions on each.

A lot of people really enjoy this stuff, and I quite understand why. It's a great option for when you want to sip on your fave drink, but don't want to fork over the big bucks.

Bon Appetit!

A Weeknd to Remember

So Aik Cheong is hosting a giveaway. Not the lame ones where you win a cup of coffee or whatever. If you partiipate, you'll be able to win two tickets to GO SEE THE WEEKND LIVE, in Singapore.

Just take a photo with your favourite sachet (the catch), tag Aik Cheong's FB page using the #TNLRADIO tag, and make sure your post is public. Tune in to TNL to catch the promo code and Whatsapp that code to 0788992992.